Behind Stone Walls ENG
by N. Black - blackie
Summary: Fidelius. That's why I called you here."
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

_I was sleeping, when a clumsy owl dropped a note right on my belly. _

_Sirius, need your help._

_James_

Sirius muttered and started to get out of his bed, the note creased in his hand. He came back from France few hours later, and still needed some sleep, but something in the shaking handwriting and short phrase made him run to the bathroom to get ready.

"Thanks for coming." James said as soon as he opened the door.

Sirius gazed around. Sitting in the couch, Lily was crying and shaking as she held a blue blanket with a new born baby in it, heavily sleeping.

"What happened?"

_Lily started crying and James walked towards her, whispering something in her ear. She nodded and went upstairs, swinging Harry gently in her arms. I started to get nervous._

"_What's going on, James?"_

"Sit."

Sirius sat down and stared at his friend.

"Dumbledore came to talk to us."

"So…"

"He said he's been at the Hog's head for an interview with the new divination teacher. He told me she started to act weird at a certain time, and made some kind of prophecy."

"So?"

_He stared at me with a face that said "Isn't obvious?" until I gazed back and said:_

"_I still didn't get it."_

"The prophecy was about a boy born at the same time as Harry who could have a chance to defeat Voldemort."

"James, I guess he finally lapsed. Clear you head, man. What Harry's going to do? Steal someone's wand and kill Voldemort?"

"Well, the death eater who heard it believed, told Voldemort and now he wants Harry."

_I rolled my eyes. The idea was just absurd. I tried to calm him down, making a joke with Harry saving the world in a yellow suit, but he was really pale._

"We decided to hide the house."

Sirius stopped laughing.

"What?"

"Fidelius, that's why I called you here."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Spell**

_Maybe I shouldn't have suggested. Maybe if we'd spread the fake news, he'd still be here, not me._

The big day finally came. Sirius apparated near the Potter's house, where he was welcomed by a silent James. Inside the house, Marlene was lulling Harry as Lily tried to help her to hold him right. Remus and Peter talked aside, probably about death eaters. That's when the idea turned up.

"Prongs?" Sirius whispered and James came closer.

"Hun?"

"We could cheat on Voldemort."

"'Course! Let's put a tend back in Gringotes and hope they won't take any gold."

"How funny, I'm serious. Look at Peter. He's weak, powerless…"

"And you're a really heartless person, Pads."

"Listen. He'd be the last one someone would expect to be holding a secret, let's give it to him. Voldemort will never imagine that the true secret keeper is Peter."

James was almost convinced.

"I don't know, Padfoot. If something ever happens to Lily or Harry, I'll never forgive myself."

"Relax. I'll tell everyone that the big deal is that I'm the keeper. Besides, Peter faiths of fear every time we mention his name, imagine telling anything!"

James smiled.

"You're right, no one will find out. Let's sit; it seems that Lily's giving a course about 'how to properly hold a baby in ten simple steps.'"

They laughed and walked to the two women.

"_Lene, for god's sake, the head!" _

_Clumsy, Marlene held Harry's head, and he gazed at me. I laughed._

"_Look at him, Marlene! He's crying for help. I can almost hear him screaming: "help me! Please make her stop, Pads, I beg you!"_

_Marlene looked at me and made a face. I answered with my best sarcastic smile. _

"_So hold him." She handled him to me._

_Remembering of the classes James gave me about how to carry that baby, I laid his head on the back of my elbow and held his legs with the other hand. Harry smiled and made a strange noise with his mouth._

"_Finally someone who know how to hold you, hun, Harry?" _

_And looking at Marlene, I put him standing in the couch's arm, shaking him in a funny dance._

"_Hi, I'm Harry! Marlene's so retarded she can't even hold me, lah lah lah! She never had a baby doll in her life, hahaha!"_

_Marlene became read._

"_Lily, you'd better take you son outta here, or else he'll get traumatized with the blood that will come out of Sirius' nose when I get him."_

_I kept on doing my show, attracting Remus and Peter's attention. When Marlene rolled her sleeves up, Remus took Harry away from me and said:_

"_Let's go, Harry, before you pajamas get blood stained and you're mum has an attack."_

_Lily went upstairs with him. _

"_See? Now he's gone." I said in a fake voice._

"_AAARW!"_

"_Merlin, she's roaring! Run for your lives!" I mocked. James started laughing, and Peter made the same almost instantly._

"_Come on, Padfoot; let's do the spell before Marlene takes your head off."_

_Snorting, she climbed the stairs._

"Peter, come here." James called, and Sirius sat on the couch as they chatted. From where he was, he could see James do the offer, Peter het pale and then nod.

In a few minutes the three were in the office, doing the spell.

"Alright?" Lily asked as soon as they left the room, anxious.

James nodded, and he and Sirius looked at each other. Lily sighed relieved.

"Now I can sleep."

Sirius smiled, the plan was done. He stayed for a last cup of tea and then left.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Big Day**

_Goddamit insomnia. _

Sirius, looking like a zombie, walked around his room in the dark, sometimes stopping to gaze at the muggle street out his apartment window.

"I can't even go to a Halloween party that my sleep goes away?" he muttered, sitting on his bed again, making it creak.

With his open eyes staring at the roof, Sirius heard the clock ring mid night, and got up again.

"I give up" he said, changing his pajamas for a jeans and some random t –shirt.

Gazing a last time to the clock, he got the bike's keys and left. London was, as every time and every day, hyperactive, making Sirius regret having stop the party so early. But Harry needed to sleep. He sighed. Nothing would be the same since Harry was born. Now James was a loving husband and father blah blah blah. They couldn't stay awake the whole night getting drunk and hitting on the girls. Everything was about that baby.

With all those thoughts he decided to go to Godric's Hollow, maybe to get a laugh at James' dark windows.

_I headed east, and soon recognized the village's gates. The moment I got there I knew something wasn't right. Since the spell was casted I wasn't able to see the house until I step on its door, but now I could see it from the distance._

He approached and landed.

_I felt my spine shiver when the gate fell down with a crack._

He crossed the gate, and a weak light inside called his attention. Walking forward, he withdrew his wand as a sword. But the moment he entered, it felt down.

"James?" he asked pale, staring at his friend's body on the floor.

"James!" he knelt by his side to hold his head. James's eyes were glassy and open.

_He must be joking with me. Yeah, it was that. Stupid nonsense joke._

"Wake up, James! Come on, that's not funny!" Sirius screamed shaking the body hardly. "Bloody hell, James! WAKE UP!"

Still telling his to wake up, Sirius felt hot tears roll down his cheeks, some of them falling over his friend. Yet thinking it was some kind of weird joke, he looked desperately above, focalizing a picture of a ginger head holding a baby.

_Lily_

Leaving James on the floor, Sirius ran to the second floor, hoping to find her somewhere, probably crying.

"Lily?" he yelled, hearing his own dying tone.

He searched in all of the rooms, from the couple's bedroom to the kitchen, until he got at Harry's bedroom. The door was half opened.

_I had terrible experiences with half opened doors._

"Lily?" he called again, opening the bedroom's door. "Oh, no. Not you."

Sirius stormed inside the bedroom, falling by the woman's side.

"Please, Lily. Wake up."

But this time he knew that was in vain. This time, he looked up with attention. An insignificant sound caught his ears, almost like a mutter, a cry.

_And it came from the crib_

"Harry?" he asked, rising up.

That noise again. Sirius ran towards the white crib near the wall. It was all messy. The blankets were revolved, and a piece of the wall was leaning in it.

"Harry?" he repeated, now taking everything off of the crib.

_I felt my heart stop beating when my godson appeared into all that mess, his little arms moving towards me._

"God, Harry, you're alive. Come here." He held the boy to his arms. Staring at Lily's body, he remembered James lying downstairs, and felt a grasp in his chest. He was turning to take the baby away when a loud sound called his attention.

"W – Who's there?"

"Sirius?"

_Hagrid. I knew it by his voice._

"Hagrid, I'm in Harry's room! Come here!"

When the half giant saw Lily on the floor, his eyes (which were already red and swollen) overflowed.

"I… Can't belie' this, Sirius. That's terrible… Un… Un'uman. Where's ya know who?"

"Have no idea. But Harry survived, Hagrid, look." He showed the boy in his arms.

"I know." Said Hagrid. "That's why I'm here, Sirius. Gimme Harry, please. Dumbledore sent me to pick'im up."

"What? I'm his godfather, it's my responsibility."

Hagrid passed his fingers throw his shaggy hair.

"I know, Sirius, I know. But these are Dumbledore's orders, can't do anything."

"No." Sirius answered, holding Harry firmly. "He stays with me, Hagrid. James gave me this responsibility when he asked me to be his godfather."

"Sirius, that's serious. Dumbledore…"

"Tell Dumbledore I'm keeping him because I am the godfather."

"Oh, please, don't make things hard…"

_I realized that he'd take Harry whatever it took, even if he had to take my arms too. Reluctant, I handed the baby to him."_

"Here, fine? Tell Dumbledore I wanna talk to him later."

"Ok."

They got down together, passing sadly through James' body, frozen in its position.

"How he got to'em, hun?"

That moment Sirius remembered of Peter. He had to find him quickly. He'd always know his friend was a coward, but trusted him to death. He's probably already dead, he thought.

"You can keep the motorbike, Hagrid. I won't need it anymore." He sighed.

Hagrid got closer, taping him uncertainly on the back.

"I know it's hard, Sirius, but we hav' to move on."

"I know." He cleaned a tear. "Well, take it. You'll go faster. Goodbye."

"Bye, Sirius. Let's go, Harry." Said the giant.

"Hey, Hagrid!"

"What?"

"Can I?" he pointed to the baby.

"Of course!"

Sirius moved towards the sleeping baby, and feeling really guilty and sad he kissed his forehead.

"Bye, big boy. See ya soon."

They vanished into the night. Afflict, Sirius apparated to Peter's place, which was in an avenue near the ministry, London. When he arrived he found the door gaped and the living room with clear signs of fight.

He withdrew the wand and entered carefully, but gave up when he noticed the scene was fake. The furniture seemed that it had been pushed, and the dished on the floor were strangely broken, too straight to something that had been blew up.

"Peter? Peter?" he called.

Silence.

"Wormtail?"

No response. Sirius started to get angry.

"If you don't show up, I'll blow the wall!"

Out of nowhere, Peter appeared.

"Chill."

Sirius turned static. Peter looked different. He wasn't shaking, on the opposite.

"How are you, Padfoot?"

"What's up with this cloak?"

"Sit." Wormtail replied with a bossy tone.

"I don't want to. Peter, James and Lily are dead."

"I know."

"So, I wanted to know if He came here looking for you…"

"He didn't need to." He answered calmly.

"What do you… Peter, don't play the fool."

With a move that was supposed to be solemn, Peter rolled up his left sleeve up, revealing the Dark Mark tattooed in his arm. Sirius goggled his eyes.

"I can't believe this. You."

"Do you remember when Dumbledore said one of us was a traitor? Well, lucky me you'd always underestimated me, influenced me. You thought I was weak. Useless. Harmless. LOOK AT ME, SIRIUS! Now I'm part of something big! Bigger that out closed little group at Hogwarts. More than that comedy show Dumbledore called 'the order'. Bigger. You know why? BECAUSE I'M SMARTER!" he screamed, desperate "And now." He completed "I'm going to kill you, Sirius. Like I gave the Dark Lord the opportunity of killing that arrogant Potter and the mud blood Evans, besides from hat brat! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Sirius ran outside, hoping to get to the ministry in time for everyone to see Peter.

"Come back here, Sirius!"

When they reached the street, Peter stopped. It was dawn, and some of the ministry staff was already walking to the phone cabin, as some of the muggle workers of that street.

"Go, Peter! Tell them what you just said!" Sirius yelled, desperate. "Confess it!"

For his surprise, Peter begun to cry.

"I… Can't believe this, Sirius. How could you? Betray our friends! OUR FRIENDS, SIRIUS! JAMES AND LILY, SIRIUS!"

"What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about? THEM, Sirius. Dead. Your fault!"

Sirius pulled his wand and pointed to Peter, almost screaming with fury.

"How dare you…"

"Come on! Kill me like you made You – Know – Who kill James and Lily! And poor Harry, Sirius! YOU GODSON! God, a baby! Dead and buried, oh!" Peter cried.

"You…"

And the last thing he saw before the explosion was Peter face, glowing in triumph.

"Black! Freeze!"

Dead, finally dead. After all that madness, dead. He didn't care for all those dead people lying on the ground, or the screaming, or the cries. He started to laugh. So crazy that the aurors were intimidated of approaching. Insane, hysterical and completely crazy were some of the things he'd be called from that laugh on. But who cared? The world had ended already. Marlene, James, Lily and Dorcas were dead already. Many more had destinies worse than that.

And the next thing that came was darkness. Silence and cruel.


	4. Chapter 4

**Azkaban**

Azkaban. Even the sound seemed awkward to Sirius. As soon as he was taken to the aurors headquarters they gave him other clothes to dress and took his wand.

"Please don't break it."

One of the aurors freshmen gazed with fear at him, throwing the wand in a drawer.

"Thanks."

No answer. Alastor Moody came in.

"Who's this time… Sirius?"

"Hey, Mad – Eye. I killed Peter… or at least I guess."

Before he could say anything many aurors surrounded Moody, making invisible to Sirius. Then the dementors came.

"What? What are they doing here?" he asked desperately.

"Goodbye, Black."

"No! I… I need a trial, a trial!" he cried as a man entered. Alastor looked angry.

"What are you doing here, Crouch?"

Gazing up and down to Moody, he answered:

"I'm your boss, Moody; now get out of my way. Black, isn't it?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Hum… Farewell, then."

"What about the trial?" Mad – Eye asked, still despising the man.

"Trials are for cases of which there is some king of **doubt **about the defendant's guilt. Do we have any doubt?"

Silence.

"Good. Take him."

Sirius turned emotionless when the cold arms dragged him from the world he knew.

"One hall, two, and three…" he counted as the dementors took him thought the cells. Sirius, completely miserable, gazed at the prisoners. Some were sleeping (or maybe dead, he wondered), others muttered in the darkness of their cells. Some screamed and others stared at the dark, with no glow in their eyes. He shivered when he thought how much time they lasted before "sleeping".

Still thinking of this he was thrown into an empty cell, where the only source of light was a little window with bars on the top of the tower. Azkaban was based in the north, right in the middle of the sea, so light didn't mean anything there.

_That's when it started. I felt my bones freeze within when one of the cloaked figures that brought me there passed though. I stared firmly straight and after a while James' body appeared clearly in front of me as Peter's voice echoed. _

"_You betrayed James and Lily, Sirius! How could you?"_

And the first year in Azkaban passed. Hallucinations, nightmares, dreams, visions of fantasy, mutter and sometimes scream. Then it stopped.

That not my fault. Never was. It was Peter. Peter did it.

Every year, a mark. After a particularly strong rain near the fortress, some pieces of ice and hail entered the cell. They were so hard and flat that in a sudden attack of loneliness and madness he picked them up and marked his arm. Each year, a mark. Every minister visit, a mark. A mark, another and another mark.

When he had six marks on his arm, Sirius did magic without the wand for the first time.

It was really dark, and the nightmares were worse than ever.

Light, he thought within his moans. I need light. Light, light, LIGHT!

Victorious, he saw a little flame shine on the corner of the cell, illuminating the dark. That night he could sleep in peace.

Another mark, another inspection, another magic. When he had nine marks, he transformed for the first. It was winter, and Sirius was lying inside the cell, lost in his thoughts. He looked up and saw an owl passed close to the dementors.

"It's gonna fall…" he whispered ghostly.

But the bird passed by them as if nothing had happened, even thought the dementors tried to hit it.

_It was a flashback. My Hogwarts years were floating inside my dearest but forgotten memories, as a point on light in that darkness. From all those memories none seemed so clear that moment that the day James and I found out about Remus' 'fluffy problem'_

_We were wondering in the schools' corridors, heading to the kitchen to get some food for out "welcome back third years" party when we heard steps._

"_Run, Sirius!" James whispered. "It's Madam Pomfrey!"_

_Shrunken to the wall we saw her turn the corner holding another boys' shoulder._

"_Hey, James! It's Lupin…"_

_Really pale and scared, Remus was guided by the nurse towards the forest. Forgetting completely the food, James and I went after them. We passed the school's doors until we reached a famous tree, the whooping willow. The funniest thing was that we were never stupid enough to get near that tree, not after that kid who almost lost an eye playing near it. In a quick move for the age she was, Madam Pomfrey grabbed a stick and poked the tree. James and I said "Ouw!" when it stopped moving._

"_Let's go, Sirius…"_

"_No! Wait…"_

_After some minutes, Madam Pomfrey emerged from the ground, leaving the tree. _

"_Where's Remus, Sirius?" James asked me, pointing to the tree from underneath the cloak. _

_We sat near the tree, determinate to wait until he left to ask a lot of questions. After a couple of house, we actually saw what was truly happening inside that tree. A huge wolf came out of it._

"_Oh. My. God." James moaned. "Remus is a werewolf."_

_When I thought he'd run, he ended the phrase. _

"_And that's the most awesome thing I've ever known here at Hogwarts!"_

_I laughed. The problem with my laughs (in the old days, not now) is that they were loud. Really loud. Stupidly and ridiculously loud._

"_Shh!" James warned, but it was too late. Attracted by the noise and smell, Remus turned his snot towards us and started running. To us._

"_RUN!" I shouted._

_I don't remember having run so much in my whole life. James and I ran to the forest until we saw Hagrid's. The windows were dark._

"_For God's sake! He has to be home or else I'll kill you, Sirius!" James screamed knocking furiously on the door._

_In a particularly strong knock, it opened widely, and we ran into it._

"_Where's the light in this place?" I walked blindly._

"_Ouch! Sirius, that's my foot! Go away!"_

"_Look! Come here, James…"_

_Through the blurred window we say the wolf get near a unicorn. _

"_Sirius, I'm not interested in seeing the unicorn being killed."_

"_Chill, James. Just look."_

_The wolf got really near the creature and smelled it. He deviated from the unicorn and walked away, as if he didn't even notice._

"_Sirius… Do you remember what Gilgedgon (our DADA professor) said about werewolves?"_

_I forced my mind. The image of the old blond which came to my head._

"_Werewolves are the funniest and most interesting creatures. Can't harm a fly, but if it's a human being, it's over."_

"_Animals."_

"_Not animals, my friend." James raised an eyebrow. "Animagus."_

"_It's hard." I joked_

"_Nothing's hard."_

_I smiled. James had the habit of thinking nothing was hard or impossible. We were indestructible. With a little thinking I could remember the words we learned. Concentrating was my straight and energy I transformed. Once, twice, three times, until I got it right._

The dementors, too blind to notice anything, passed by the dog with no reaction. Maybe one or another who stopped, trying to sense some feeling, but they soon gave up. Another mark. When he had ten marks he heard about the new minister, and was looking forward to know him. Maybe he had a brain and decided to do a trial. He wanted. And waited. When there were twelve marks in the arms, he was visited.

_It was a usual day. Rainy, of course, but usual. I was leaning on the corner of the cell when I heard footsteps on the corridor. There were two possibilities: or someone new or the new minister finally had the guts to visit hell. _

Cornelius Fudge, shaking, gazed inside Sirius' cell, who raised up suddenly and complimented him:

_I'd do anything to get outta there._

"Hello, how are you?"

"H – How… Black?"

"How are you?"

"Y – Yes…"

"Can I see your paper? I really miss the crossword, you know…"

Still shocked, he threw the Daily Prophet inside the cage, and Sirius caught it. Right after the headlines, the date called his attention. 1993.

_God. We really are in 1993; I was sure those marks were months, days, hours, minutes. But not years. Never years. _

The family picture made Sirius smile, a rare thing. But something else called his attention in that photo. Over one of the son's shoulder, there was a rat.

"_Look, Remus! We gottit!" James celebrated as he transformed himself into a deer. Remus goggled his eyes. _

"_An animal each, mate!" Sirius said, transforming into a dog. _

"_Peter, please say you didn't sign for this madness." Remus begged worried to the shortest Marauder. _

_He giggled nervously and turned into a rat._


	5. Chapter 5

**Hogwarts**

The picture of the rat over the boy's shoulder was forgotten in the cell until one day, when Sirius decided to pick that paper again so he wouldn't miss the year they were. That's when that rat called his attention.

"_I'm not going to trial?" I asked the aurors as they guided me to the headquarters fireplace. _

"_Sorry, Sirius. Crouch's orders." Mad – Eye answered, clearly angry._

"_But… Mad – Eye! Peter!"_

"_The only thing that's left on him is the finger, Black. The finger." Said one of the aurors that caught me._

Focalizing the rat, he noticed it didn't have the same finger. Funny, he thought. If Peter hadn't died, I'd even think that… No. Recovering again the scene of the prison as if it was his birth to this new life, he saw Peter vanishing in the smoke. But he wasn't exploding, he wondered. It was life he was… shrinking.

"_Wormtail, we already got it." James said for the tenth time in seconds as Peter turned into a rat again, shrinking to a ball of fur on the floor._

"_I know!" said Peter "But it's so good… I could stay like this __**my whole life.**__"_

Sirius' roar of fury echoed in Azkaban as a thunder in the sky.

_Revenge. That was all I thought about. I looked at that picture like all my nightmares remained in there. In that single missing finger. I decided to escape._

_I could use magic without a wand. I could transform. I turned blind. Suddenly another worry took my mind. Harry. Doing quick math my mind placed him at Hogwarts already, studying with the boy. No, I had to go. Started planning my escape. Two times a day the cell's bars were open so the dementors could pull the goo to the corpses, I mean, prisoners, eat. When the other day rose, I was ready. The paper wasn't my focus anymore, but the door. I felt the coming cold, and when they gave the food, I walked out. _

He was free. Almost dead, maybe. But free. For a long time the word had not even a grammatical meaning to him, and the face of his godson living with that rat was the only thing that impulse him trough the north sea, swimming to the coast. He fell on the salty ground when he stopped, trusting that people would ignore the dog. They did. He recovered and got some food, besides a muggle paper for localization. Better and breathing the good shinny air, he went from place to place, until he say London on the horizon. According to the paper, it was June.

"_I'm meeting her parents…" James whispered when I asked why the hell he wasn't drinking anything on the three broomsticks. Besides shaking, of course._

"_Gosh, Prongs! Just this?" I laughed._

"_Humpf. You never had to meet your fiancée's parents, Padfoot. Shut up. What if they don't like me?_

"_You mess their heads. Here, drink a firewhisky."_

_James rolled his eyes._

"_It will really help if I get there stinking."_

"_You worry too much, man. Where do they live?"_

"_If I'm not crazy, a place in London's suburb… Little Whinging."_

"_Surrey."_

"_Yeah." He answered sighing. _

Going to Little Whinging was easy. When Sirius got to the Wisteria Walk, he suddenly reckons the place.

"_Come on, people, over here!" Lily said, leaping happily holding hands to James. _

"_Where are we going exactly?" I asked_

"_My parents called me and Jim to dine at Petunia's new house." She answered making a face "So I called you, so we wouldn't die bored."_

_I rolled my eyes._

"_Such an honor."_

_Marlene, who was with me, laughed. _

"_Petunias's really annoying, Sirius. Imagine your mum, but she hates wizards."_

_I sighed. I never liked when my family was mentioned, so I went silent as we walked on the street to a white house, typical of a respectable muggle neighborhood. _

"_It's here?" James asked_

"_Dear, I've never said my sister lived in a manor house. Yes, it's here."_

_Near the bell, a bronze number four shined._

Sirius stared at the same house; now with its windows darken because of the night. He could hear a low sound of voices coming from the living room. He got near, hoping his dog ears could capture more the noise. It was the night news.

"_He's dangerous. In case you see him, please dial…"_

"_They didn't even say from where this man escaped! He could be right outside my window now and I wouldn't know where to run!" I heard. Probably Vernon._

Desperate, Sirius ran back to the Walk. He stopped suddenly, noticing that nobody knew he was a dog. And if Harry was inside that house the best was wait there as a dog. Then, he thought breathing deeply, I'll go to Hogwarts. A few days passed, and Sirius couldn't get near the house. One night, when he was preparing to sleep onto some bushes, he heard a sound. He rose up and saw a figure appear on the street, carrying something like a suitcase.

_It was like seeing a ghost, though the sensation was never better. I gazed at the figure that approached. He was a teenager. James. No, not James. Harry. Though my mind couldn't apart the two. He was identical, and sat on the sidewalk looking desperate and frightened, but I had already seen how he was. Thinking of playing with him as a dog, I got closer. He was scared and fell on the ground, his wand rolling on the street. I gave up and walked back. Anyway, I did what I promised. It was time to go back to the start, Hogwarts._

The way to the north was tempestuous. When he finally saw Hogsmeade, a feeling of home appeared. Trusting his dog form, he jumped over the leaved that accumulated on the floor. Nostalgias he stared at the Shrinking Shack and if he was human he'd cried. The memories were still alive, and ever more after those twelve years. He could almost see James, Remus, himself and Peter running through the house, playing even as animals. Those full moons would never come back, but he was glad. James would have his revenge and he'd show Remus who was wrong. And when freedom was certain and Peter was into the dementor's arms, he'd call Harry to live with him.

The school year began, and Sirius waited in the forest as the Main Hall got full of the Hogwarts' youth. For the first time in months he breathed like a human, walking to Hagrid's, leaping on the got ground of the forest.

The days passed. Sometimes he would see Harry laughing with his friends. Sirius noticed they were together all the times, the three of them. One was a boy who resembled Gideon Prewett a lot, and the other reminder Remus. Smart and always with a book, he found out overhearing chats that her name was Hermione. He saw Remus too. Teacher. He laughed. In his first month at Hogwarts, he met the cat.

_I was doing one of my night walks when an orange figure jumped in front of me. My natural instinct told me to chase it, but my human side stopped it. I turned into man again and tried to gain its confidence, which would be useful to catch a rat. _

_It took a while, but his trust solidified. In this middle time, quidditch started. Harry flew like James. I smiled, but when the match was almost over, the dementors came surrounding the field. I ran._

The year was disturbing. He frightened Scabbers' owner. But revenge arrived sooner than he thought. As he heard of the rumors, Lucius' son got attacked by a hippogriff, and it'd me sacrificed. Sirius had already seen men being sacrificed, it made no difference. He was so wrong.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Shrieking Shack**

When the minister was gone, Sirius roared. A while later he saw Harry, Hermione and Ron (he overheard some talks and found out his name) staring at the execution. They don't need to see that, he thought. But the thought vanished at the moment he saw Ron's hands.

_There he was. Lying on his hand, that stupid rat. I didn't have second thoughts, just ran to him._

"_Harry!" Ron screamed. But was too late, I'd already taken him with me. We got to one of the rooms and he crawled away from me, shaking with fear, if we're already doomed, I thought, let's hug the devil._

I transformed, he screamed. I tried to make him stop, but Ron was panicking, calling Harry frenetically.

"You're not gonna kill Harry! BE CAREFUL, HARRY! It's him, and animagus…"

Kids, I thought. Harry reached us.

"Harry!"

"You…"

"If you're gonna kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too." Said Hermione firmly, stepping forward.

"Only one will die tonight." I gazed at the rat onto Ron's hands.

"And It's gonna be you!" Harry yelled.

It was really fast. In the other moment he was over me, his wand pointed to my chest.

"You're gonna kill me, Harry?!

"EXPELIARMUS!" A known voice yelled, making Harry's wand fall off his hand.

Remus. When Harry rose up I could see his face.

"Sirius… Sirius. A little done, aren't us? Finally the outside reveals the internal madness."

I used my good and old sarcasm. It was my escape. The last time I'd talk with him, he screamed at me telling I betrayed the Potter.

"You know a lot about internal madness, don't you, Remus?"

I laughed inside. Internal madness, the old familiar joke.

_Flashback_

"_Man, what's your problem?" I asked when James arrived with that same stupid face after another dump of Lily. _

"_He's mad, Padfoot." Remus laughed, turning a page of the book he was reading. _

"_Yes, I'm mad, Moony. But my madness is internal, and you too have that."_

"_Remus' opening an office in St. Mungus: expert on internal madness. Fifty galleons a talk."_

_(…)_

He laughed and turned his wand down. I had an ally, so I rose up and hugged him.

"I found him!" I whispered to him, exalting inside.

"I know."

"Let's kill him…"

Then, Hermione intervened.

"I trusted you! I trusted you all this time and you were his friend!"

Remus sighed and unbraced me.

"He's a werewolf!" she completed, pointing towards Remus. "That's why he's been missing classes!"

Remus froze, but calmly answered:

"And you know it since…"

"Since Professor Snape's essay."

Snape? Professor?

"Well, Hermione… You're really the cleverest witch among your age I've ever known. "

That was pissing me off. I waited twelve years to hear a student – professor talk between them?

"Let's go, Remus…"

"Wait."

Wait?

"WAIT? I DID MY WAITING! TWELVE YEARS! IN AZKABAN!"

Remus sighed and gave me the wand.

"Ok. You can kill him. But Harry needs to know why."

"I know why!" Harry said, looking at me. "You betrayed my parents, you're the reason they're dead."

"It wasn't him." Said Remus as I walked through the room, wiggling the wand. "Someone betrayed you parents, Harry, but it was someone I, until recently, thought to be dead."

"Who?"

"Peter. Pettigrew!" I screamed. "And he's right here, in this room."

Harry and his friends looked shocked and frightened. I think I sounded a little bit insane, even to my standards.

"Let's go, Peter!" I yelled "Please come out and play!"

"Expeliarmus!" I heard I yell as Remus' wand flew from my hand. I turned. Snape.

My blood boiled.

"Well, well." He sibilated staring at me. Behind me I could fell Harry, Ron and Hermione freeze. At least he had something in common. "Revenge is sweet. I said. I told Dumbledore that you were helping and old friend to get into the castle, and know I can prove it!"

Rolled my eyes. Ignorant, stupid. James was right; his existence was a waist of space.

"Brilliant, Snape! As always you think, think and think reaching to the wrong conclusion! Now excuse us, me and Remus have some business here and…"

But he caught me. Son of a bitch. Pointing his wand to me neck, he said:

"Give me a reason. I **beg **you."

"Severus, call down…" Remus deliberated.

"He can't help it, it's a habit…" I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up, Sirius!"

"You shut up, Moony!"

"Look at you, arguing like an old couple…"

I swear, if he had spoken another thing I would've fixed his nose manually.

"Why don't you turn around and go play with your chemistry set?" I said quickly. He forced his want to my neck.

"I could do… Oh, I should. But why deny this pleasure to the dementors."

My spine froze. Those years of suffering came to my head.

"Am I detecting fear, Black? Oh, yes. The dementors' kiss. They say it's terrible to watch, but I'll do my best."

"Severus…" Remus said. But he wouldn't give up. No, and I knew that.

"After you." He completed, drawing his hand to the door.

Harry pointed his wand to us. Now. He'd kill me before I could tell the truth. But he didn't do that. Turning his wand to Snape and yelled:

"Expelliarmus!"

Snape was thrown backwards, falling unconscious. That was something I expected from James. I mean, Harry.

"Tell me more about Peter."

Remus stepped forward.

"He went to school with us; we thought he was our friend!"

"No. Pettigrew is dead. He killed him." And pointed to me, still with his wand.

"No, Harry. He didn't. I thought that too, until you saw him in the map."

"The map was lying."

"The map… Never. Lies." I sighed.

_Flashback_

"_Are you sure? I mean, if it shows the wrong position, we're doomed…" Peter whispered shaking as James and I turned the pages of "Magical Cartography."_

"_It's error – proof." James muttered charming the subtitles, writing on them. "Ok, let's test." He withdrew one of the two – faced mirrors from his pocket. At the same time, Remus was in the third floor, covered by the invisibility cloak with the other mirror. "Here says that Filch's in the third floor's corridor. Is this right?_

"_Wait." He talked through the mirror. "Yeah."_

"_Great."_

_(…)_

"Pettigrew is alive!" I pointed to Ron's shaking hand. "And he's right there."

Ron was scandalized.

"Me? He's mad, Harry, I don't…"

"Not you, boy! Your rat!"

"What? Scabbers' in my family for…"

"Twelve years? A long life to a common rat! Look, he's missing one finger, isn't it?"

"So what?"

"The only thing they found from Pettigrew was…" Harry started to get my point.

"HIS FINGER! The coward cut his own finger and then transformed so everyone would think he was dead!"

"Show me." Harry said in a challenging tone.

I gazed strongly at him. He seemed ready to believe. I took the rat from Ron's hand. He started to contort in my hand.

"No! Scabbers! Let him go, mad!"

"If he's really a rat, nothing will happen." Remus tranquilized.

When I dropped it, he started to run. The spell hit him, and I was afraid nothing happened. The process started, and my heart begun the beat fast as the man I've seen from the last time in that mess appeared in front of me.

"Remus?" he said, pretending to be surprised. "Sirius? My old friends…" and ran away.

I united all my strength and anger and threw myself on the ground. He retracted, and kept like this until he saw Harry standing.

"Harry! Look at you, so like your father…"

No. He could've said anything, spoken to anyone. But not with Harry.

"How dare you talk to Harry? How DARE you mention James near him?"

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort, Peter!" Remus snapped

"I didn't mean it!" he moaned. "The dark Lord. You have no idea of the power he has…You, Sirius. Ask yourself. What would you do?"

I blew up.

"I'D DIE! I'D DIE TO BETRAY MY FRIENDS!"

He ran towards Harry again. It was over.

"Get off him." I growled. Remus completed:

"You knew that if Voldemort didn't kill you, we'd do!"

"Together!"

"No!"

I turned. Harry was frozen at the door. He looked disgusted at Pettigrew.

"Harry, this man…"

"I know what he is." And he walked to us, confident. "Let's take him to the castle."

"Oh, God bless you, boy…"

"Get off me. I mean, let's take him to the castle. The dementors will take care of him."

Peter retracted. I wouldn't upset Harry.

We walked through the tunnel, me and Harry holding Peter.

"I'm sorry for the bite… I over reacted a little." I started

"A little? You almost took my leg off!"

I laughed. Harry too.


	7. Chapter 7

**Full Moon**

_I left Ron along with Harry and Hermione and walked towards the castle._

_Flashback_

"_I heard Hogwarts is huge." Peter said as we changed clothes on the train._

"_Yeah, Peter, it is." James smiled tying his shoes up "And we're rocking up that place."_

_(…)_

_When I noticed, Harry was thoughtful beside me._

"_It was very noble what you did back there." I said "He doesn't deserve."_

"_I just thought my father wouldn't like his two best friends to become killers. Besides," he completed "If he died, truth would die with him. He's alive, you're free."_

_Silence._

"_Beautiful, isn't it? I remember the first time I went though those doors. It's gonna be good to do that again as a free man." _

"_Yeah."_

"_Harry, I think you don't know, but when you were born… James and Lily asked me to be your godfather."_

"_I know."_

"_So, I'll understand if you rather stay with your aunt and uncle, but maybe a different home, and…"_

"_What? Come live with you?"_

"_Yes… Of course I'll understand if you want to stay with them, I just…"_

"_What? Leave the Dursleys? Are you kidding, of course I want! When can I move?"_

_I smiled truthfully for the first time since I went to Azkaban. Everything was going to be different. _

"Harry!"_ Hermione screamed, pointing to the sky._

_Flashback_

"_Go… away. James, please, AARG, If I bite you…" Remus muttered as he transformed. It was our first full moon with him._

"_Chill, Remus. Everything is going to be alright."_

"_Yeah, Moony. We're in this together."_

_And we turned into animals._

_(…)_

"Harry, run!" he yelled running to help Remus

He transformed, now he acted and thought like a dog. And his heart says: catch. He ran towards Remus, who pulled him away. He felt some scratches and bites, but soon the physical pain was over.

_Flashback_

"_Ouch! Be careful!" James moaned as Remus passed some liquid in his wounds. _

"_See? I told you not to mess with me in the full moon. Idiot."_

"_Arg! There's no problem. It was fun!" I said. _

"_Fun to you, that was jumping around us like mental while I was trying to calm down the wolf." James replied, angry._

_(…)_

He smiled when the wolf threw him backwards, but it didn't last long. Soon he was unconscious. Later he could remember James calling him, or the vision of a deer running to them, but it was almost like a dream.

Light.

"Let's go, Black." He heard a rude voice say. He wanted to scream, tell them about Wormtail, but he couldn't. Felt chains around him, and ignored.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw were the bars. No, he thought, I can't be back. And he didn't. Outside the bars he saw a clean navy blue sky. He was at Hogwarts yet. How ironic, look how I ended. In a jail. At Hogwarts.

Steps. It's the end. He'd get the dementors' kiss and then live a couple of years left drooling and mumbling to the walls.

"Sirius?' he heard. More steps.

"Who's there?"

"Step away! BOMBARDA!"

An explosion, and Hermione and Harry appeared.

"Come!"

"What are…?"

"Come on."

_Fly. I always enjoyed flying. That was the highest freedom sensation. _

"_Well, it's time to go." I said, helping a scared Hermione to get off of Buckbeak. _

_Harry walked with me, and then I noticed. James. No. Harry, Harry, Harry._

"_When we'll see you again?"_

"_Soon, I promise. Come here."_

_I sat Harry on a bench and faced him._

"_It's so unfair that I've spent so much time with James and Lily, and you so little. You're just like James, except for the eyes. You've got…"_

"_My mother's eyes." He completed as he already had heard that a lot. I laughed._

"_You know, Harry. Those who are dead are not really gone. They live in here." I tapped him in the chest. "If you need me, Hedwig know how to find me."_

"_Ok."_

_I got up on Buckbeak and flew away._


	8. Chapter 8

**Away From Home**

The French Guyana was never a place for me neither my parents, but as my family was from France, we had a house there. A little detail: the house hadn't been used for three generations. Perfect.

He got to the house and opened it with a tap. He was wearing horrible clothes, no money, and no wand. Great, he thought. But it's what we have. _He Sat and wrote to Harry._

_Flashback_

"_Firebolt, the best race broomstick since Nimbus generation!"_

_The moment I saw the advertising I ran to buy that broom. Harry flew so well that didn't deserve what had happened to his (Croakshanks told me his broom hit the moving tree, what for me would be the whooping willow)_

_(…)_

_Writing the letter He had to confess it was his gift. It wasn't worth a lot, but could compensate the twelve birthdays without presents. He laughed with the thought he could give all Harry's broomsticks. _

_Flashback_

"_Now even the littlest ones can fly! The new infant broomstick for little witches and wizards. On sale."_

_I was tired of hearing James tell everyone Harry would play for England, so I bought him that little broom. In the next day I sent it, departing for a mission on Belgium. Some days later, I got a letter from Lily. _

_(…)_

_After sending the letter (on a very suspicions owl, to notice) he observed the local population. __The people, the habits. But he got tired. __Simply got into the house and took care of Buckbeak until Harry's first letter arrived. His scar was aching. When he ended reading the letter and thought he was trying to avoid dominated his head. _

_Wormtail is free. He's free and surely will try to search for Voldemort, now he can. He knows where Harry is._

_Another letter, now talking about the Triwizard Tournament. Harry was in it. Surely someone was trying to kill him. But this time he had Sirius._

_I decided to go back to England. Anyway, that place wasn't for me. __Never was. I sent Dumbledore a letter, warning him. He gave me a place to stay, great. I took Buckbeak and flew to England._

_The life on that cave wasn't as bad as in the Guyana, but at least I was aware of everything that happened. In this middle time, Harry came to see me. I waited for him the hill that leaded to the cave and took some papers._

"_Hello, Sirius" he said, and I could sense the food's smell in his backpack. I smelled to be sure. In this time on the cave I've already eaten some rats (ironical, no?) but nothing was compared as the smell of human food that came from inside that bag. _

_We got into the cave and I turned again, verbalizing my thought about thar food._

"_Chicken!"_

_Starving I took out the papers from my mouth and waited to Harry to take off if from the bag._

"_Thanks. __I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."_

_Harry still looked worried. I grinned to him._

_"What're you doing here, Sirius?"_

_"Fulfilling my duty as godfather," I answered, eating the chicken (which was very good). As he continued serious I smiled again. "Don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray."_

_Serious. I rolled my eyes internly. __I fourteen year old boy shouldn't be that serious._

_"I want to be on the spot. Your last letter . . . well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried."_

_"What if they catch you? __What if you're seen?"_

_I thought of the question for a second. For the first time since Azkaban I wasn't caring If they arrested me. Harry came first. I'd rather be in jail knowing he was alive that stay safe and watch his funeral. _

_"You three and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus,"_

_"They're making it sound like he's dying," Harry commented_

_"My brothers Crouch's personal assistant, He says Crouch is suffering from overwork." __Ron informed turning to me._

_"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close, The night my name came out of the goblet."_

_"Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn't he?" Hermione replied really cold. I've never seen her like that. "I bet he wishes he hadn't done it now - bet he feels the difference now she's not there to look after him."_

_"Hermione's obsessed with house-elfs," said Ron_

_I stopped to think. __Crouch was too arrogant to lose a house – elf. It wasn't like him._

_"Crouch sacked his house-elf?"_

_"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," Harry said to me "When we got in the Top Box Winky was saving a place for Crouch, but he never appeared. In the match's night, many people dressed up as Death Eaters showed up and started to play with the muggles who took care of the place and conjured the Dark Mark. The thing is that later they found Winky with my wand, which I let fall on the Top Box, and blamed her for doing it (Nonsece, said Hermione) and Crouch got furious and sacked her._

_No, it wasn't like him at all. Fury in public, like that…_

_"Let me get this straight, You first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving Crouch a seat, right?"_

"_Right." They answered. _

_"But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"_

_"No," said Harry. "I think he said he'd been too busy."_

_Hum. Crouch gets out of the Top Box, leaved his elf taking his place for him. He doesn't turn up and blamed the elf for doing the dark mark… Something wasn't right, staring for the fact that was impossible for an elf to know how to do the mark, even having a wand. And the wand had been forgotten in the Top Box, that restricts a lot._

"_Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?"_

_"Erm . . . No, I didn't need to use it before we got in the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in there were my Omnioculars." He stared at me as if I could explain. "Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?"_

_"It's possible,"_

_"Winky didn't steal that wand!" Hermione insisted._

_"The elf wasn't the only one in that box, who else was sitting behind you?"_

_"Loads of people," explained Harry. "Some Bulgarian ministers .. . __Cornelius Fudge... The Malfoys ..."_

_"The Malfoys! I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"_

_"Anyone else?"_

_"Yes, there was, there was Ludo Bagman," Hermione said, looking at Harry._

_Ludo Bagman… Ludo Bagman. __Beater for the Wilbourne Wasps. Great one, as it turns up. England too._

_"I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the_

_Wimbourne Wasps, what is he like?"_

_"He's okay, he keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament."_

_"Does he, now?" I said, feeling a little jealous. For a second I imagined what this Tournament would be like if I hadn't run. Hoho, surely Harry'd win "I wonder why he'd do that?"_

_"Says he's taken a liking to me,"_

_"Hmm,"_

_"We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione said. "Remember?"_

_"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he? The moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite."_

_"How d'you know?" Hermione seemed desperate to take the attention away from the elf, though I had already discarded the idea a long time before. __"How d'you know where he disapparated to?"_

_"Come off it, are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"_

_"It's more likely he did it than Winky,"_

_Ron may have said something this moment, but I wasn't listening. I remembered of Crouch, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, not Crouch, the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, which was what the papers were saying… That man was to be minister, until his son… But he'd never miss a day at work for nothing, he was desperate to get his old place. Now…_

_"When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?"_

_"Went to look in the bushes, but there wasn't anyone else there."_

_Of course, of course. He'd like to put the blame on anyone except his own elf._

"_And then he sacked her?" _

_"Yes, he sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled -"_

_"Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf!" Said Ron_

_Personally one thing I had learned. Hermione was right._

_"She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. All these absences of Barty Crouch's ... he goes to the trouble of making sure his_

_house-elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn_

_up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too. . . . It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak.""_

_"D'you know Crouch, then?"_

_If I know Crouch. Oh, Yes._

_Flashback_

"_I'm not going to trial?" __I ask among the dementor's arms._

"_No." Replied the auror, repeating the same answer Moody gave me "Crouch's orders."_

_(…)_

_"Oh I know Crouch all right," I sibilated, letting all my hatred for him show through my voice. " He was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban - without a trial."_

"_What?"_

"_You're kidding." Said Harry._

_"No, I'm not, Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?" they shook their heads and I continued "He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic, he's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical - and power-hungry. Oh never a Voldemort supporter," I added when saw Harry suspicious expression. "No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side . . . well, you wouldn't understand . . . you're too young. ..."_

_"That's what my dad said at the World Cup," said Ron, with a trace of irritation in his voice. I remember well how James and I got when they said that. "Try us, why don't you?"_

_"All right, I'll try you. . . . Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing . . . the Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere . . . panic . . . confusion . . . that's how it used to be."_

_Harry and the others seemed to stop to think. The moment I paused to took a breather I remembered of Lily, James, Marlene, Dorcas and so many friends that died._

_"Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch's principles might've been good in the beginning - I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemorts supporters. The Aurors were given new powers - powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn't the only one who was handed straight to the dementors without trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorized the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you - plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of witches and wizards clamoring for him to take over as Minister of Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But then something rather unfortunate happened. ..." _

_Flashback_

"_MUUUUM! __MUM, PLEASE, I CAN'T STAY HERE! __MUM, MAKE HIM STOP!"_

_Shit. New people, I thought. __Looking through the bars of my cell, I saw Barty Crouch pass into the arms of a dementors. What Crouch'1s son is doing here?_

"_MUM!"_

_Pathetic._

_(…)_

_"Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd_

_managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."_

_"Crouch's son was caught?"_

"_Nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while . . .gotten to know his own son."_

_"Was his son a Death Eater?"_

_I thought a moment._

"_No idea. I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters – but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house-elf."_

_"Did Crouch try and get his son off?" __Hermione whispered._

_Teenagers are funny. Innocent enough to think that He would get his son out and adults enough to find Barty a Death Eater._

_"Crouch let his son off? I thought you had the measure of him, Hermione! Anything that threatened to tarnish his reputation had to go; he had dedicated his whole life to becoming Minister of Magic. You saw him dismiss a devoted house elf because she associated him with the Dark Mark again - doesn't that tell you what he's like? Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy . . . then he sent him straight to Azkaban."_

_"He gave his own son to the dementors?"_

_"That's right, I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though . . .they all went quiet in the end. . . except when they shrieked in their sleep. ..."_

_Then the old cold hit me. Maybe was the fact that I was used to freedom, but Azkaban terrified me more than ever, and I would never go back there if I could._

_"So he's still in Azkaban?"_

_"No, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in."_

_I felt surprised with myself about not feeling anything with someone's death._

_"He died?"_

_"He wasn't the only one, most go mad in there, and plenty stop eating in the end. They lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the dementors could sense it, they got excited. That boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch, half carrying his wife past my cell. She died herself, apparently, shortly afterward. Grief. Wasted away just like the boy. Crouch never came for his son's body. The dementors buried him outside the fortress; I watched them do it."_

_"So old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he had it made, one moment, a hero, poised to become Minister of Magic...next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonored, and, so I've heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him. So Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation."_

_Silence. I enjoyed and ate more._

_"Moody says Crouch is obsessed with catching Dark wizards,"_

_"Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania with him, If you ask me, he still thinks he can bring back the old popularity by catching one more Death Eater."_

_"And he sneaked up here to search Snape's office!"_

_Again: there's something wrong._

_"Yes, and that doesn't make sense at all,"_

_"Yeah, it does!"_

_Another thing about teenagers: they get over excited._

_"Listen, if Crouch wants to investigate Snape, why hasn't he been coming to judge the tournament? It would be an ideal excuse to make regular visits to Hogwarts and keep an eye on him."_

_"So you think Snape could be up to something, then?" __Harry asked. Typical of James' son. __I laughed inside._

_"Look, I don't care what you say, Dumbledore trusts Snape -" Hermione begun, but Ron interrupted her._

_"Oh give it a rest, Hermione, I know Dumbledores_

_brilliant and everything, but that doesn't mean a really clever Dark wizard couldn't fool him -"_

_"Why did Snape save Harry's life in the first year, then? Why didn't he just let him die?"_

_"I dunno - maybe he thought Dumbledore would kick him out-"_

_"What d'you think, Sirius?" Harry elevated his voicem trying to overcome the fight._

_"I think they've both got a point. Ever since I found out Snape was teaching here, I've wondered why Dumbledore hired him. Snape's always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. Slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid, he was."_

_I gave Ron and Harry a time for a laugh and continued._

_"Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters."_

_I started to count._

_"Rosier and Wilkes - they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges - they're a married couple - they're in Azkaban. Avery – from what I've heard he wormed his way out of trouble by saying he'd been acting under the Imperius Curse - he's still at large. But as far as I know, Snape was never even accused of being a Death Eater - not that that means much. Plenty of them were never caught. And Snape's certainly clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble."_

_"Snape knows Karkaroff pretty well, but he wants to keep that quiet," said Ron._

_"Yeah, you should've seen Snape's face when Karkaroff turned up in Potions_

_yesterday!" said Harry quickly. "Karkaroff wanted to talk to Snape, he says_

_Snape's been avoiding him. Karkaroff looked really worried. He showed Snape something on his arm, but I couldn't see what it was."_

_Flashback_

"_The death eaters have a special mark." __Dumbledore started as we stopped chatting to listen. "It's skull like, with a snake going out through its mouth. They conjure it above the places they attack, and every one of them has it marked on fire over their skin"_

"_Hey! Snake on the mouth and fire on the skin, how sadic." James laughed quietly to me. Lily poked him strongly._

"_Shut it and stop joking, James!"_

"_Careful, Lily, better not to over react, can harm the baby…"_

"_You'll see what gonna be bad for the baby if you don't take this meeting seriously, Potter."_

_(…)  
_

"_He showed Snape something on his arm? Well, I've no idea what that's about. . . but if Karkaroff s genuinely worried, and he's going to Snape for answers ..."_

_Truthfully I knew what it was. And how I knew…_

_"Why are Moody and Crouch so keen to get into Snapes office then?" __Insisted Ron stubbornly._

_"I wouldn't put it past Mad-Eye to have searched every single teacher's office when he got to Hogwarts. He takes his Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously, Moody. I'm not sure he trusts anyone at all, and after the things he's seen, it's not surprising. I'll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where possible. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters. Crouch, though . . . he's a different matter ... is he really ill? If he is, why did he make the effort to drag himself up to Snape's office? And if he's not. . . what's he up to? What was he doing at the World Cup that was so important he didn't turn up in the Top Box? What's he been doing while he should have been judging the tournament? You say your brother s Crouch's personal assistant? Any chance you could ask_

_him if he's seen Crouch lately?"_

_"I can try, Better not make it sound like I reckon Crouch is up to anything dodgy, though. Percy loves Crouch."_

_"And you might try and find out whether they've got any leads on Bertha Jorkins_

_while you're at it,"_

_"Bagman told me they hadn't," said Harry._

_"Yes, he's quoted in the article in the paper. Blustering on about how bad Bertha's memory is. Well, maybe she's changed since I knew her, but the Bertha I knew wasn't forgetful at all - quite the reverse. She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into a lot of trouble; she never knew when to keep her mouth shut. I can see her being a bit of a liability at the Ministry of Magic . . . maybe that's why Bagman didn't bother to look for her for so long. ..."_

"_You knew Bertha Jorkins?"_

"_Yes. Well, more or less. She was some years older than me and your father. What time it is?"_

_"It's half past three,"_

_"You'd better get back to school. Now listen . . .I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission; it would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."_

_"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon and a couple of grindylows,"_

_I snorted. I'll note up everything he says that just James would, so I can read it in a better modd._

_"I don't care . . . I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over, and that's not until June. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?"_

_After some days, Harry wrote to me. He passed the stupidity point this time. I've never been so angry with someone before since James jumped in front of me when Remus attacked us. _

_I wrote back to him, asking what was going through his mind for him to go to the forest alone with a Dursmstrang kid. And I called for the danger he was in because of his tournament to see if he stayed away for him._

_Now the best was try to end this stupid task before thinking of anything else. __I sent a good luck card to him. __It wasn't big deal. I Just wanted him to know I was here. But was I worried of happened. Dumbledore called me to wait for Harry in his office. As I heard looked like Barty Jr. wasn't dead, and Voldemort was back. __I ran to Hogwarts._

The wait was unbearable, until Harry came. He ran through the office to his godson, who was pale and tired.

_"Harry, are you all right? I knew it - I knew something like this - what happened?"_

_Dumbledore told me. Of Voldemort's return, Barty Crouch Jr. __Everything. Till He turned and asked Harry what really happened. But for me it was too much. He wasn't capable of remember what happened. Not that time._

"We can leave that till morning, can't we, Dumbledore? Let him have a sleep. "Let him rest."

_But Dumbledore denied. __Harry started to speak. Wormtail had done what I expected him to. Every note I would do Dumbledore interrupted. Once Harry told Wormtail cut his arm to take blodd and Dumbledore wanted to see. For some reason, Wormtail thought Harry's blood would make Voldemort stronger._

_Harry continued until the part he said his and Voldemort's wand were connected._

"The wands connected? Why?"

"Priori Incantatem,"

_That was turning bizarre._

"The Reverse Spell effect?"

Dumbledore explained that, when wands with the same inside meet they don't work well against each other, and that Voldemort's wand had been forced to release the former spells it had done in a reverse form. When Harry confirmed, I froze in my place. Maybe we've found a way to bring James back to life?

"Diggory came back to life?"

"No spell can reawaken the dead, all that would have happened is a kind of reverse echo. A shadow of the living Cedric would have emerged from the wand . . . am I correct, Harry?"

_They went though this part, till Harry confirmed James and Lily appeared to him. For a second I felt jealous for Harry. In Azkaban, the only thing I saw was their corpses. My intimate desire was to speak one last time with my friends, just to say I was sorry._

_When Harry said how James instructed him outta there, I felt I failed. Failed as a friend, failed as a godfather. I let Harry in danger, and James had to help him god knows in which way. When Dumbledore asked me if I wanted to stay with Harry I accepted, swearing to James and Lily's spirits I'd never let anything harm their son. Even if I had to give my life._

_When we got to the hospital Harry slept as I watched. When he woke up, I heard Fudge argue with Minerva and Dumbledore. After that, Snape and the Weasleys entered. Albus told me to turn into human again._

"_Sirius Black!" Molly screamed, and I rolled my eyes. __It was my end, to reach tnhat point to that woman delate me. _

_"Mum, shut up!" Ron yelled. "It's okay!" (mental note: thank him a lot for that)_

_"Him! What is he doing here?"_

_My will was to tell Snape exactly what I was doing to him if he talked to me again, but Dumbledore interrupted. __I had to shake his hands. God, how disgusting that was. __I could be a little dirty, but his case was serious than mine._

_The fact is that Voldemort is alive again (not that he had died once) and things will be different. Dumbledore gave me the first task, call the order. I went away, after saying goodbye to Harry, though I didn't want to._

_But of course, I knew the Order would never be the same without James._


	9. Chapter 9

**The End?**

"_What Voldemort wants is the prophecy Sybill Trelawney made for Harry and him."_

"_What for?"_

"_To find out how to kill him, Tonks."_

_(…)_

_Living in the Order of the Phoenix's new headquarters, along with Remus, was easy to me to meet the new members. Though I think the 1980 members won't be replaced ever, the rebellion has to continue._

_I'd never thought I'd return to that dark and creepy area of London, not after I heard my mum scream that she was going to take me out of the family's tapestry, just like Aunt Druella did with Andromeda, but I was mistaken. Miserable and feeling like a prisoner again, I let Dumbledore use the Grimmauld Place, hoping to have some company in that private prison I was. In the first meeting I met Andromeda's daughter, Nymphadora. She has her mother spirit, and I think she found Remus "cute", because she couldn't take her eyes off him. I met Emmeline again. She has changed. I hadn't seen her since the time she used to hang around with Lily and Marlene at Hogwarts. She's still beautiful, though serious. "See what time has done to us, Sirius." She said when she saw me. I grinned. Breathing the danger air that the Order had was for little, and I felt very good in being one of them._

_I never wanted to die in Azkaban. Like James, my biggest desire is to die with a wand in my hand and the blood boiling inside me. Sounds poetic, but when you're in an organization that fights evil, everything sounds poetic._

_Soon I realized that living at the Order's headquarters wasn't like I expected. Few people passed there in normal days, not even to have a talk. My only joy among Kretcher's mutters (who became mad when He heard I was coming back) and my mum portrait's screams, among other more undesirable things where the meetings, because the house was full of people._

_But also there were times that even the meeting disappointed me. Being a runaway from the ministry I couldn't get out and help in more dangerous missions, having to stay home and try to make it suitable to human beings. Let's just say that after almost thirty years of abandonment it was more a house, looked more like a cave which was too big._

_(…)_

"Night, Sirius." Arthur complimented as he arrived at the Grimmauld Place. "The meeting is half past seven, right?"

"Yes." He answered miserable. That night would be the meeting to define the wizard guard who would scout Harry from the Durlsey's house and take him to the Order's headquarters. Dumbledore had decided that, after the dementors attack against him and his cousin is was better that he was under the Order's care.

Not that Sirius was sad with the boy there, but he was perfectly aware he couldn't go get him. And once more he'd have to sit down and wait for others to do the job. What, of course, Snape kept noticing every time he had an opportunity.

"Be sure I won't enter the house with my muddy shoes, Black. I wouldn't dare to ruin your… _cleaning_." He said almost every time he knocked the door and Sirius showed up, grumpy.

"_Who wants to candidate to Harry Potter's guard?" Dumbledore asked, but wuickly added "No, Sirius, not this time."_

"_I know, I wasn't going to say a thing."_

_He gave me a kind smile. Damn, how I wanted to kick this kind smile. Many people raised their hands, including Remus, who whispered to me right after:_

"_I'm doing this for you and James."_

"_Oh, thanks, I can barely express how happy I am." I said in a really sarcastic voice._

When Harry arrived he didn't see his godson enter, not even go upstairs. He was in a meeting, then in his parents' bedroom. That's when he heard:

"MOB! SCUM! CHILDREN OF SQUALOR AND MADNESS! HALD BLOODS, MUTANTS, MONTERS, GET OUT OF HERE! HOW DARE YOU IMACULATE MY ANCESTRIES' HOME…"

He rolled his eyes, got down the stairs two in two steps until he reached the curtain.

"Shut up, stupid witch, SHUT UP!"

"YOOOOOU! Traitor of your own blood, abomination, shame of my flesh!"

Oh, boy.

"I – TOLD – YOU – TO SHUT – UP!"

_That's when I looked at the stairs. Harry was staring at the portrait. I felt anger. Only I had this king of family._

"_Hey, Harry, I see you just met my mother."_

"_Your…"_

"_Yes, my old and good mum. For almost a month we've been trying to get her out of there, but as It seems she put a Permanent Sticking Charm behind it. Let's go, before the others awake."_

"_But what your mother's portrait is doing here?"_

"_Nobody told you?" I asked. Why would they. "This was my family's house. As I'm the last Black alive, it's mine. I offered Dumbledore to use it as headquarters. I guess this was the only useful thing I've done till now._

_I didn't mean to, but this sounded like a confession. I looked away and we went to dinner. I had to warn Mundungus that the meeting was already over, because he was still in the time I said that Voldemort could try to torture us to get some information about Harry and that's why it wasn't good to divulge many things._

_The food was good. I liked when Molly cocked, because gave the impression I was home._

"_So, vacations were good?" I asked Harry, sort of guessing the answer._

"_No, not at all." _

_What is he talking about? At least he could smell something else than dirt. __Ungrateful kid. James would… No. He's Harry, not James. I need to remend that. __Igrinned to show irony._

"_I don't know why you're complaining."_

"_What?" he was incredulous. As it seemed his perfect vacations would be a month of fun with the Weasley. Poor kid, he's not used to wars, I couldn't make a hard time with him._

"_Personally I'd receive gladly a dementors' attack. A dreadful fight for my soul would've broken the monotony easily. You think your summer sucked. At least you could get out, walk, and get into fights… I was locked here the whole summer."_

"_What?"_

"_Because the Ministry is still hunting me. By this time Voldemort also knows I'm an animagus, so my cover is over. There's not much I can do for the Order… At least Dumbledore thinks that."_

"_Well, you at least knew what was going on…"_

"_Oh, of course, hearing Snape's reports, standing his irony of who's risking his neck out there while I'm here… Asking how's the cleaning…"_

"_Cleaning?"_

"_We're trying to make this house habitable for humans. No one lives here for ten years, or since my mother died. The house elf that lives here also doesn't clean a thing."_

_Silence, and the dinner proceeded. I was almost hit by a knife, too (Fred and George are finding the wonders of magic outside Hogwarts)_

_Flashback_

"_James, darling, please…" James' mother said in my last Christmas at his house. She looked quite ill, but yet treated James and I as good as always. "Stop making things fly through the house, it's not polite to use magic without precaution."_

"_Mum, relax, I'm not killing anyone." He said making all the family's silverware fly from the dinner salon to the kitchen, where the elves were waiting for the dishes._

_(…)_

_When Molly told them to sleep, the diffidence intruded. _

"_Not yet, Molly." I looked at Harry "Well, I'm surprised with you. I thought the first thing you'd ask when you arrived was about Voldemort."_

"_I asked Ron and Hermione, but they said we couldn't know anything about the Order…"_

"_And they're right." Molly interrupted. "You are too Young."_

_I felt sorry for Harry, reminding him "at least you knew what was going on…" so I said:_

"_And since when you have to be part of the Order to ask questions? Harry was stuck in that muggle house the whole summer, he has the right…"_

"_Hand on!" George said._

_'How come Harry gets his questions answered? We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and __y __du haven't told us a single stinking thing!' Fred continued_

'"_You're too young; you're not in the Order, and Harry's not even of age!"_

_'It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing, that's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand -'_

_'It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!'_

_How come it's not down to me to decide what's good for him?_

_'You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I sup pose?'_

_I started to get pissed off with her presumption._

"_Which bit?"_

"_The bit about not telling Harry more than he __needs to know,'_

_BUT I DIDN'T TELL HIM ANYTHING!_

_'I don't intend to tell him more than he __needs to know, __Molly, but as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back, he has more the right than most to-"_

_'He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix! He's only fifteen and -'_

_'And he's dealt with as much as most in the Order, and more than some.'_

_'No one's denying what he's done!' Molly cried back to me "But still-"_

_I rolled eyes._

_'He's not a child!'_

_'He's not an adult either! He's not James, Sirius!"_

_Oh, no. She shouldn't have said that._

'I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly,'

_'I'm not sure you are! Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!'_

_I'm gonna hit her. Who does she think she is to talk about James?_

_'What's wrong with that?' Harry cut off. _

_My affection for this boy grew after that._

_'What's wrong, Harry, is that you are __not __your father, however much you might look like him! You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!'_

_My hand started to shake._

_'Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?'_

_'Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and -'_

_'We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!'_

"_Arthur!" as it seems she had lost her arguments "Arthur, back me up!"_

_'Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that he is staying at Headquarters.'_

_'Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!'_

_'Personally,' started Moony "'I think it better that Harry gets the facts - 'not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from . . . others.'_

_'Well, well . . . I can see I' going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart -'_

_That strange feeling of absence I felt when I've seen him for the first time seized me again, as if I lost many things in the time I was away._

"_He's not your son._

_'He's as good as, who else has he got?_

_When she said that, I felt stupidly like crying. Damn, this woman is ridiculous and pissing._

"_He's got me!"_

"_Yes, the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?'_

_I was leaving, I swear I was. My patience was vanishing. If I continued to argue with her I would either attack her of cry, and both of them were bad. I rose. If she thinks I spent some vacations in Azkaban and left Harry in my will, she can think. I don't care._

_'Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry,' said Remus sharply. 'Sirius, sit __down.'_

_I sat again, still gazing at her. I felt pale and shaky, but faced everyone with dignity._

_'I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this, he's old enough to decide for himself.'_

_He gazed at Molly. Well, I thought, already tired and sad enough. She took care of him in the latest years. __She__ wasn't arrested as he grew up._

_In a bad mood, Molly sent Ginny to bed._

_'OK, Harry . . . what do you want to know?'_

_'Where's Voldemort?'_

_I explained him all he wanted, and would tell everything. Who cares?_

_The other days were monotonous like the rest of Harry stay at the house. He found the old tapestry and was funny to tell him how my family wasn't worth. Just funny. When he went away, and consequently the rest of the order, I walked lonely to my parents' room, where I was sleeping._

_I woke up in the middle of the night. Like a sleepwalker I coursed to my old bedroom. Harry's face seized my brain, but I thought that was too personal. I sat in my old bed, what made a thick lay of dust fly, but I didn't care. I leaned back on the headboard, hugging my knees. Emme was right, what life had done to me?_

_Looking around I saw the muggle posters I've put over the walls to offend my parents, but my sight really stopped at the Marauder's picture. Laughing, we hugged each other. It made no sense, at least for me, why were we so happy. It had a war, people were dying, James' parents were ill, and yet he smiled._

_Just then I really realized, that picture worth nothing, or better, was worth as the rest of that old dirty house. Peter's smile was fake. The friendship in that picture was fake. I rose and looked at the mirror, just then noticing I was crying. Tears ran down my face as I opened the doors of my wardrobe. That was left of my life. Memories, letters and picture albums; _

_O opened the first box. There was the two faces mirror me and James were used to use at school. I laughed among the tears remembering about how we used to close our bed's curtains and talk all night long about all the girls we've seen that day. I decided to give Harry the mirror. He deserved it, and we could speak when he was at Hogwarts._

_In the same box there were some old girlfriend's letters. Painful was too reckon some of the names, who later appeared in the Daily Prophet's obituary. I opened the next box. The marauder's letters._

_Hey, Padfoot! How are you? __I hope fine. I already got three letters from Joanna looking for you. Please come here and get them before I tell her that truly you don't wanna talk to her. You were in France for a mission, so I couldn't tell you: LILY'S PREGNANT! __PREGNANT! MY SON, SIRIUS! __Really, I almost fainted when I found the exam among her things. Haha, the result of that night came. I'm so happy I can barely breathe. __Come here as soon as possible._

_A hug and a kick, James._

_And there were others_

_How are you, Sirius? James is sending a hug, before I forget (how could I, with him jumping beside me, but whatever). How are things over there? I feel really sorry for your brothers, though I know you and him didn't get along very well. James is laughing here by my side and I'll stop for a moment so I can punch his nose till I break his glasses. _

_Hi again! James' in the kitchen now, doing the dishes (I got his wand). Well, Marlene's been here. It's better you talk to her, she wanted to tell you something. Maybe I'm seeing a new couple? Keep on touch, because if something happens we can do your wedding with Harry's baptizing!_

_All my love, Lily._

_I smiled. Lily well done handwriting was a little stained with my tears. I remember what Marlene wanted to talk about with me, and regretted having said I'd rather stay free with no commitment. Our kids would've been wonderful. She was astonishing. But I would've been arrested. In the last album there was a very curious picture. It was our graduation party. James hugged Lily, Remus held Peter on his back (almost dying with the work, I must say) I hugged Marlene, who had her arms up, enlacing my neck. I kept the picture in my pocket. It was just how it should be. Always. I found other letters, dirty. Cried a lot._

"_Sirius?" I heard Remus calling in a reluctant voice. I didn't answer, hoping he'd leave me alone. Maybe my sobs called his attention or anything, but he came up and saw me. Staring at the old graduation picture, crying, leaning in the corner of my bed. Pathetic. But he didn't say a thing. He sat on the bed and gazed at me._

"_You really miss them."_

_I nodded. Remus smiled._

"_Me too. Can I?" He pointed at the picture. When he saw her, his eyes filled with tears._

"_I'd like to bring back the dead." __And sighed._

_We gazed at each other. Had been tears that the marauders' hugged for the last time. As I hugged Remus, I thought about James, who'd always stop my arguments with Remus._

_Flashback_

"_Oh, Remus, just because you think you know everything, the beautiful and right prefect, you think you get all doesn't mean that-"_

"_Great, Sirius, you want to spent the rest of your live living like a complete stray that thinks about-"_

"_SHUT UP!" James yelled, looking like mad to us. "SHUT. UP!"_

_(…)_

_After this afternoon at the Grimmauld Place, the time till the end of the year was quick. Christmas was always a sad time for me (except for the year I spent it at James' house, whose parents liked me more than mine)_

_I was expecting to spent it alone, maybe fighting with Kretcher, maybe eat something (IF Molly is not angry at me). But everything changed when Arthur was attacked, so the boys came._

_The best part of my year._

_Harry was worried. I did my godfather part. Handled him the mirror. __But Snape showed up at the end of the party. I Said to him, He bothers Harry a little in this Oclumency classes Dumbledore wants him to have, I'll kill him._

_The year went though. I didn't do anything useful at all, so I won't tell more details about them. _

_Harry built an army against Umbridge, I'm proud of him. _

_The summer started and with him the bad news. I was all alone in the house (besides Kretcher, if you can call him a company) and got to know Harry went to the ministry and broke into the Department of Mysteries, looking for me. Of course, Voldemort planted a fake memory, forcing Harry to run to there._

_I had promised to myself nothing would happen to him. Remus even tried to forbid me, argument. __I flew to there._

_The ministry battle. __Harry was a good dueler. I had the slightly impression of calling him James once, but I couldn't help it. They were so alike. The last think I remember was having heard an Avada Kedavra, but the veil consumed me fully._

_And in my last breathe of conscience I may have seen a light, along with the faces of James, Lily and Marlene calling me back, but this could've been a dream._


End file.
